Historical rankings of Presidents of the United States

Historians (and sometimes political scientists) are surveyed and asked to give Presidents of the United States number ratings on their overall performance or on different aspects of their leadership.

Several different factors are considered in deciding what makes one a good or bad president. These include their character, their vision for the country, their relations with congress, their relations with foreign leaders (diplomacy), how they managed the economy, how they managed the military, and their overall political skill.

It is sometimes difficult to accurately rank a president because all of the presidents faced completely different challenges and lived in different times.

Historical opinions of U.S. presidents often change over time. For example, Harry Truman had very low approval ratings right after he left office, but many historians now consider him among the greatest presidents.

Warren G. Harding is often considered to be the worst because he hired corrupt friends to become government officials.

Both historian polls and popular opinion polls consider George W. Bush among the worst U.S. presidents, although some would argue that it is too early to rank him because his term ended recently in 2009.

Also, Donald Trump is not ranked because his presidency has not ended yet. For the same reason, George W. Bush and Barack Obama are not ranked in some polls because their presidencies ended less than ten years ago.